Gower backs Newcastle to make presence felt in finals

"There is a lot of strikepower in this team to deliver": Craig Gower. Photo: Getty Images

Evergreen Craig Gower said Newcastle were ''definitely'' on track to feature in the finals after helping them climb to fifth on the ladder with a 32-14 win against his former club Penrith on Sunday.

Playing in his fourth game since joining the Knights last month, Gower scored a 48th-minute try in his first appearance at Centrebet Stadium as a member of the opposition. The 35-year-old utility played 12 seasons and 238 first-grade games for the Panthers, captaining them to their 2003 grand final triumph.

In his four games since arriving at the Knights, they have had a narrow loss in Melbourne followed by wins against Gold Coast, Canterbury and the Panthers.

Sunday's result lifted them from eighth to fifth, within three points of the top four with seven games left in the regular season.

Asked if he felt the Knights were a finals team in the making, Gower replied: ''Definitely, definitely. Since I have been here - I can't say what happened before - but the feeling that I get is that there is a lot of strikepower in this team to deliver.

''It's just about having 17 blokes playing to their potential week in, week out, and I think we're starting to get the gist of it.''

His try came when he chased through a Jarrod Mullen grubber kick and dived on it while Penrith fullback Matt Moylan waited in vain for it to travel over the dead-ball line.

''I thought he was really good today,'' Bennett said. ''It was a great try he scored. ''Only Craig Gower scores that try. He wanted it bad enough and threw himself at the ball on the line there. I thought it was typical of his desperation.''

Bennett said Gower - the second oldest player in the NRL behind teammate Buderus - was ''as fit as I have ever seen him''.

The former NSW and Kangaroos utility player has made a smooth transition back into the NRL after five years abroad playing rugby union in France and for the London Broncos in the English Super League.

The Colyton Colts junior said the only player in Penrith's line-up on Sunday who was a former teammate was prop Tim Grant, which made his return easier to deal with.

''It was good to be back here … It was a little bit different because it's 5½ years, so you don't really know anyone you're playing against,'' he said. ''So it's just another team but obviously I've got great memories from here and I'll have them for the rest of my life.''